Chesapeake unveils 'man camp' in Bradford County

Nov. 18, 2010

Written by

Michael Rubinkam

The Associated Press

SAYRE, Pa. -- When Chesapeake Energy Corp. began ramping up its natural gas drilling operations in northern Pennsylvania two years ago, it quickly realized the rural region lacked a sufficient number of apartments and hotel rooms to handle the sudden influx of out-of-state workers.

So the Oklahoma City-based driller built a $7 million residential complex and training center that company officials hope will help ease the housing crunch.

Chesapeake held an open house Thursday at its campus in Athens Township, Bradford County, along the New York state line. The low-slung dormitories can hold about 280 workers, and the fenced complex includes a cafeteria, recreation center and laundry facilities. The workers moved in last week.

"At a certain point, it became very difficult to find places for employees to live," said Brian Grove, senior director of corporate development. "This will take some of the pressure off the local housing market."

A drilling boom in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania has led to housing shortages, skyrocketing rents, and reduced landlord participation in the Section 8 voucher program. One-bedroom apartments now rent for $900, while three-bedroom houses can fetch more than $2,000 -- double what the federal government considers to be fair-market rent in the area of small towns and farms.

Housing advocates say lower-income people have been priced out.

"There's just not a lot out there at the lower end," said Liz Hersh, executive director of the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania. "For people who aren't making the bigger bucks, they are getting pushed out of the market because there's just not quite enough supply."

Chesapeake, the most active driller in the Marcellus, has grown from a few dozen workers and a single drilling rig in Pennsylvania to 1,100 employees and 21 active rigs. More than half its workers come from out-of-state, though Chesapeake is also aggressively hiring and training local residents for the physically demanding but lucrative rig jobs.

Each rig worker, or roughneck, follows a schedule of 14 days on, 14 days off. Chesapeake's new dormitories are available for on-duty workers only; typically, out-of-state roughnecks fly home when they are off.

But Grove said there's an incentive for local workers to stay at the dorms, too: They don't have to cook, clean or do laundry.

There's no chance that workers will forget where they are. Comforters, pillowcases, towel sets and wall clocks are imprinted with "Nomac" -- the Chesapeake unit that drills in the Marcellus -- while framed posters show drilling scenes and pennants say "S.A.F.E. (Stay Accident Free Everyday) Drilling."